Article: Bagging the images

April 8th, 2006

You’ve found the location, and you want to capture the image. In landscape photography it is very important to take care with composition. The image will work based on how well you have presented the image – how the eye wanders through the final image. Is the eye led into the image to the main subject or is it confused? I like simple compositions, placing foreground interest in pictures to draw the viewer in to enjoy more or controlling depth of field (the amount of the picture in focus) so the viewer quickly understands my visual communication of the image.

 

With landscape pictures, the huge majority are horizontally framed.  You can still take great landscape pictures in the vertical format - and this is how many publications will publish them. Shooting landscape vertically offers a new dimension & encourages the viewer to really stop and look. One of my photographs a shot taken at dawn one Spring morning at Corteen Bay on the West Coast of Ireland is a vertical. I often display this one low down on my display boards at shows and because I composed from a low angle, it feels like you can walk into the sea and go for a paddle.

 

Light is an important aspect of the composition too. Consciously observe light before composing your landscape pictures. It’s worth waiting for clouds to move, showers to pass. I suppose you could say landscape Photography is “painting with light”.  You choose which shade.

 

The more landscape photography I do, the broader my definition becomes. I used to think big scenes were the sole image, now I try to capture details shots, people if they are about, and abstracts too. For me, landscape photography is not so much about what is contained in the image, but what it portrays about a place.  Capturing the energy, the spirit of place is what gives an image magic. Adding a dash of culture too adds another dimension.

 

I consider myself a photographic artist, not just someone producing landscape photography. And like any other artist I create images on a speculative basis, meaning the buyers for the images must be found by me after they are taken. 

 

So why not take a look through my website gallery at the selection of limited edition prints on canvas & the greetings cards. It’s easy to buy prints in various sizes, and have the prints safely shipped to your doorstep.

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